Nut-branding machine



.|. VENGE.

NUT BBANDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEso. 1919.

1,331,790. Patented Feb. 24, .1920.

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Jom/ l/ENGE OHN VENGE, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

NUT-BRANDING- MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Feb. 24, 1920.

Application led June 30, 1919. Serial No. 307,557.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN VENGE, a citizen of Russia, and resident of the city of Seattle, county of King, State of lashingtion, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nut-Branding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in branding machines, and more particularly to machines for branding English walnuts.

The object'of this, invention is to provide a machine that will automatically receive the nuts in mass from a hopper and feed them to the branding mechanism, requiring no sorting, with respect to size, in their passage over the branding mechanism.

A still further object resides in the provision of a machine that is simple and compact in construction, and susceptible of having eXtra units added thereto to increase its capacity.

The invention consists in the arrangement, construction and combination of parts as will be'more fullyvdescribed in the following specification, illustrated in Athe accompanying drawings and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an end view of the machine with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is an end view of an alternate form of heating drum, a part of which is broken away for better illustration.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts, the numeral 1 represents the frame or housing` of the machine within which is disposed a drum that is ixedly attached to a shaft 3, that is journaled for rotating in the sides of the housing. This drum comprises a c \'lindrically shaped shell preferably of thin sheet metal having a series of branding marks. l disposed in spaced apart relation around its outer periphery. These branding marks are slightly raised with respect to the peripheral surface of the drum, and are placed in rows circumfcrentially thereof equidistant apart.

Vithin the shell of the drum in close proximity of its inner periphery i's disposed an inner casing 5 of asbestos, or any other like substance impervious to heat, to form a chamber for the reception of a plurality of resistance coils whereby7 the heat rer sulting therefrom will be radiated to heat the outer shell 2 of the drum so that the branding marks #i will be heated to the proper temperature so as to imprint their brand upon the nuts that pass thereover.

The positive and negative terminals of the coils are connected with outer and inner rings 7 and 8,'respectively, carried by the drum 2 and insulated therefrom. The inner ring, as herein shown` is provided with a sleeves) that extends longitudinally of the shaft 3 land is likewise insulated therefrom. This sleeve is provided to form electrical connection with the negative terminals 10 of the resistance coils FiXedly attached to the inner side of the housing 1 are upper and lower brushes 11 and 12 that establish circuit connnunication with the upper and lower rings 7 and 8 respectively, and these brushes are connected through circuit wires 13 and 1l with the positive and negative poles of source of electrical energy, not shown.

To rotate the druln I In'eferably employ a friction disk 15 which is fixedly attached to one end of the shaft 3 and is engagedv by a friction wheel 1G which is mounted upon a transverseshaft 17, and this latter shaft is rotatably mounted upon lateral extensions 18 of the housing 1.

To rotate the shaft 17 a bevel gear 1S) -attached thereto is engaged by a bevel pinion 20 attached to the drive shaft 21 which receives its energy from a source of power, not shown.

To vary the speed of the friction transmission, the friction wheel is herein shown slidable within a. key-way slot 22 upon the shaft 17, whereby it can be moved longitudinally along the shaft by a shifter 23, in contact therewith. that is threaded upon the stem of a pin 21 held by the extensions 18, and this pin 21 has provided upon its` upper end a throttle wheel 25 by which it can be actuated. In this manner the wheel 16 can be shifted along the surface of the disk 15, and thus vary the speed at which the drum is rotated.

The feeding mechanism of the machine comprises an endless belt 2G that is mounted upon pulleys 27 rotatably attached to the frame or housing 1, upon which is precipitated the nuts from a hopper 28 at one end thereof, and at the other end of this belt 26 a, chute 29 is stationarily provided upon a frame in alinement with the belt, and this chute has preferably placed thereupon a plurality of petitioned-oitl runways 30 to receive a row of nuts 47, from whence they are fed upon the top of the branding marks of the rotating drum.

It is to be observed that this feeding mechanism is disposed in suc-li a manner with respect to the top of the drum that the nuts will travel in the arc of a circle, upwardly and over the branding marks, and are maintained in yielding contact with the branding marks in their passage tliereover by the pressure of an endless belt 31 mounted upon pulleys 32, one of which pulleys being held under spring compression 33 to the housing to permit of this slight yielding tendency of the belt so as to compensate for inequality in the various sizes of the nuts, and in this manner the belt 3l ivill exert a pressure at all times on every nut as it passes over the top of the branding marks, irrespective of the size thereof.

It is to be understood that it may be found advantageous to employ an upper belt 31 for each row of nuts. The pulleys that connect the belts 26 and 31 are actuated by belts 34 and 35 ofi' 0f pulleys 36 and 40 respectively secured upon one end of the shaft 3, and hence the feeding mechanism travels at the same rate of speed as the rotating drum.

To cleanse the branding marks from the accumulation of dirt I have provided a biusli L1l rotatably mounted upon the frame l in cont-act with the peripheralsurface of the drum, and this brush is actuated through meshinol gears 42 and 43 driven by the counter shaftJ 17.

To preclude the nuts from being scorched by contact with the surface of the drum 2 in their passage over the branding marks, I have shown layers of asbestos 44 disposed in strips thereover, however, it is to be understood that these strips of asbestos are merely provided as a precautionary measure, and may be found non-essential.

In Fig. 3 the resistance coils 6 are shown transversely disposed upon the drum in alinement with each row of branding marks i which may be found more advantageous in facilitating the heating thereof. Likewise each resist-ance coil may be partitioned oft', as at L16, to confine the heat of each coil within a chamber directly beneath the branding marks.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is new and desire to. protect by Letters patent is:

A nut branding machine comprising a rotatable drum having branding marks upon its outer periphery in spaced apart relation circumferentially thereof, a series of heating chambers within said drum contiguous to the outer shell thereof, a re-v' sistance coil within each of said chambers,

means for electrifying said coils, a feeding mechanism for said nuts, and means for conveying said nuts from said feeding mechanism upwardly and over said branding marks, and maintaining a yielding pi'essure thereupon in their passage thereover.

Signed at Seattle, l/Vashington.

JOHN VENGE. 

